What actually happens to your body when you exercise? What tiny, invisible changes are happening through every single cell? We can see when muscles grow and feel when our breathing improves, but for a full understanding of just how complex exercise’s impact can be, you need physiology. Physiology is a subdiscipline of biology that looks …
My first thought when someone mentions flexibility exercises is stretching. You probably think of something similar, or maybe you imagine yoga. Foam rolling doesn’t have quite the same public profile, but there’s some scientific evidence that it is also a valuable way to loosen up your tendons, ligaments and joints. A more formal term for …
We all know that a good night’s sleep helps us feel refreshed, right? You have a long, busy day that wears you out, then you go to bed and when you wake up the next morning, your energy has been restored. How exactly does that work? As you might expect, when you try to explore …
You get to the field, raring to go, and suddenly the heavens open and you’re drenched in rain. Surely that’s going to affect your performance, right? Most people would say that the ideal conditions for many sports are not too hot and not too cold, with a sky that’s clear but a sun that’s not …
You can do all the right exercises, live the healthiest of lives, and still end up with mobility issues that can’t be cured. Luckily, there are other ways to make your life easier. For example, in the modern world, there is the increasing availability of assistive devices. Assistive devices may sound like something complicated, but …
Every day, you perform dozens of essential tasks. I’m not talking about a 5-mile run every morning or an hour’s meditation before you go to bed; I’m talking about washing, dressing, and eating. They’re what are known as the activities of daily living (ADL), and when it comes to daily performance, they’re the most important …
For some, a little drink here and there can be a fun way to relax and unwind that creates a pleasant sort of buzz. Then there are the serious alcoholics, the ones putting their lives in danger every day because they just can’t stop. And between those two points are a whole range of drinking …
Acne. It’s the great dread of many teenagers and more than a few adults. Hundreds of millions of people all across the world have acne at this precise moment, but that’s probably not a comforting thought to most people. It doesn’t matter how common it is or how minimal the damage, we’d all like it …
Senescence is an ethereal-sounding word. It’s not something you often hear in everyday conversation, and if you’re not a scientist who researches aging, you might not know it at all. It’s a term for biological aging, either in a body as a whole or at an individual, cellular level. Understanding senescence is vital if you …
Talk about longevity tends to focus on diet and exercise – the things we know are essential to a long and healthy life. Still, we’re in the modern world, and it’s probably no surprise that a lot of people are looking to the potential benefits of technology for increasing our longevity even more. Technology already …
